The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-01-09
MORMONS MAY BE SHOT
The Jury Say That ThOmp'
son is Not Guilty.
VARIAN AIDS THE DEFENSE,
and Argues In Favor OF the De-
fehdant's Innccence-The Farce
at q End
BEAVER, Utah, January 8, 1887

BEAVER, Utah, January 8, 1887.
Special to THE HERALD.
Yesterday. DaEiel Page, of Parowan,
was last on the stand for the defense.
On the sixteenth Of December defend
ant came to my house in company with
William Orion. It was between and S
o'clock i'll the morning. Defendant
stated the object of his visit to town,
which was to try to arrest Dalton. He
asked my advice; also if had seen him
in town. l answered YES" and that 1
thought Dalton was at his mothers
house. | enquired, however, of several
persons, but got nothing definite. Ny
boy Willie came in acd said Dalton was
coming down the street on horse back
driving stock. Witness suggested to
the officers that now was about as good
time as any. They went out and
looked through the window. 1 heard
the officers
CRY HALT" THREE TIMES;
then a shot; could not see the officers.
but saw Dalton look in the direction of
the officers. Dalton did not stop, but
continued reniug his horse away from
where the officers stood, and quickened
his speed. He was sitting upright until
the summons of halt was made, when
he leaned forward and to the right.
When he was shot, he fell off. Thomp-
son assisted to carry the deceased into
the house. Witness, at the request of
Orion, borrowed a rife for the defend
ant to make the arrest. Identified the
gun as the same. He understood that
when Dalton was around town, he al
ways had a horse with him ready to
get away. The shot was fired three
seconds after the third command
to halt. When Dalton lay wounded in
the house he regained consciousness
and, looking up at defendant, said:
You d--s - of a b, don't want
you to touch me" l did not tell
Thompson that Dalton carried arms,
and
WAS DANG ERoUs TO ARREST.
On Saturday, Willie Page testified to
seeing Dalton at the time he was shot.
The remainder of witness testimony
was substantially the same as that of
the preceding witness-his father.
David Pollock, Presley Denny and |
Edward w. Thompson all testified to |
the good character of the defendant.
Ex-Deputy Gleason testified to hav- |
ing been many times warned as to the |
risk he would incur in attempting 10 |
arrest the deceased, for whom he at one |
time had a warrant He showed let |
ter purporting TO have been written by |
the deceased to the witness, warning |
him to come "heeled" when he came |
to make the arrest.
Deputy Armstrong testified to having |
had letter from the deceased OF de-
cidedly opposite tenor to the one pur-
ported to have been received by
Gleason.
The evidence was all in by noon.
Varian first addressed the court re-
specting the Law of the case and
THE QUESTION OF JUSTIFICATION,
in a somewhat lengthy |
harangue, that the offense of which
Dalton was accused, although known
as unlawful cohabitation, was a pure |
and simple felony, and the grade of |
Offense being such, Thompson was fully |
justified in shooting. Variants argu-
ments were strongly and unequivocally |
for the defense, instead of the prosecu.
ton.
wILLIAMS'CoNCURRED
Of course, and quoted some few authori-
ties in support of the dual argument,
but Foreman didn't seem to think that
the authorities quoted were as strong
as one he had discovered, which he
quoted on page IL, section ST, session
laws of 1878.
Boreman then charged the jury
exactly as both lawyers openly
and the case was given to the
jury at exactly So. They were out
just twenty minutes. when they re-
turned verdict of not guilty. The
courtroom was crowded almost to suffo-
cation during the entire period of the
fsrcical trial, many ladies being in the
audience. The general verdict of PEG
pie who heard the trial is that the whole
affair was
A CoNeoCTED FARCE,
the seeming and evident determination
being to clear Thompson at all hazards
Williams, in addressing the jury, said
this was parodoxical case in that coun-